Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.

It’s a question that
requires a probing of Iranian foreign affairs and the Shia belief that, the
Mahdi, or 12th Imam, will return before judgment day.To understand Iran’s foreign policy, one must consider two particulars:
national interests and the religious-historical identity of society and the
regime. Between the two, there is a certain level of tension that must be
resolved, particularly in the Shia conception of the return of the Mahdi.When it comes to how Shia perceive their role in waiting for the Imam, it is
useful to look to the two categories of millenarian movements defined by Eric
Hosbawm: passive and revolutionary.In discussing European millenarian movements, Hosbawm writes that those in
the latter category have “fairly definite ideas on how the old society will be
replaced by the new one,” namely through the “transfer of power.”On the other hand, passive millenarian movements expect the revolution to
make itself through “divine revelation, by an announcement from on high, by a
miracle...”The traditional Shia approach of ”waiting” means praying to God to send the
Imam. Once the believers accomplish their individual worship – and when
corruption and oppression fill the world – the Imam will return and spread
justice.

However, the Khomeini approach is more similar to modern revolutionary
millenarian movements; the believers must strengthen their faith individually
and socially, promote Islam, and build the necessary power to prepare for his
return.Ayatollah Mortada Motahhari, a leading figure in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, divided these types of waiting into destructive and constructive, both based on different views of evolution and changes in history.The constructive waiting views the issue of the Imam’s return as one circle
in the circles of struggle between the powers of good and evil. Both Khomeini
and Khamenei emphasized this concept repeatedly, thus refusing the traditional
approach. Khomeini once said, “We place this revolution in the hands of the
Mahdi. If God pleases, let this revolution be the first step toward the
appearance of the One Whom God Has Preserved, and let it pave the way for his
arrival.”The Islamic Republic of Iran acts as the “Medina” in the era of Prophet
Mohammad, Medina being the city that Mohammad used as a center to build an
Islamic nation. In the era of occultation, Iran is the base from which the
believers will accomplish the necessary conditions for the return of Mahdi.

Without Iran, the return of Mahdi will be delayed,
therefore its existence is a necessary condition for this return. For that,
Andrew Grotto considers Iran to be controlled by “religious hardliners afflicted
with a messianic fervor whose primary goal is not to sustain their earthly
dominion over the Iranian state, but to hasten the return of the Mahdi.”

One main approach to the issue of how Mahdism influences Iranian foreign
policy is that of the “martyr state,” a view that grants Mahdism a pure
determinable influence over the country. If Iranian leaders believe the Mahdi is
returning soon, Matthias Küntzel argues in the New Republic they have no
reason to compromise and engage in pragmatic politics.In 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran is poised
to become “a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs.” A similar
sentiment was echoed in the words of Raymond Tanter, president of the
Washington-based Iran Policy Committee. “There is a link between Iran’s nuclear
weapons program and its ideology of trying to facilitate a cataclysmic event to
hasten the return of the Mahdi…” he said.However, there is another approach based on assumptions that Iran’s
ayatollahs are more “rational” than the West has allowed and that their extreme
rhetoric is due to Iran feeling threatened.Between these two extremes there is the position of the Supreme Leader
Khomeini, and then that of Khamenei, which is the formal and dominant
position.The Supreme Leader plays a balancing role by preventing deviations in actions
based on messianic views. This Khomeinism view of “waiting” is characterized by
cautiousness, avoidance of details and timing, and denial of claims about direct
personal contact with the Mahdi.As Thomas Finger once wrote, “since Iran is the world’s leading Shia power,
many Iranians expect that it will play a major role in preparing for the Mahdi
and in his subsequent activity. This belief renders Iranian Mahdism enormously
significant in global politics.”Iranian leadership acts under the pressures of Mahdism, a role which is
sacred and whose position in Shia identity makes it deserving of high
sacrifices. Both main approaches – realism and Martyr state- are deficient,
so,Since Mahdism prioritizes certain issues in Iranian foreign policy, it does
not determine all policies, but rather shapes them.Hosam Matar is a Lebanese researcher of International
Relations.The views expressed by the author do not necessarily
reflect Al-Akhbar's editorial policy.

Local Editor
Dozens of Palestinians have set up tents in the occupied
West Bank, in a bid to preserve the area for an independent Palestinian state.
Around 20 large, steel-framed tents were set up in the disputed E1 area, where
the Zionist entity plans to build settlements.

Zionist police have blocked entry to the site and there is still no decision
on what is to be done with those already there.

"We are setting up a Palestinian village here where people will stay
permanently in order to protect this Palestinian land," Mohammad Khatib, one of
the organizers of the tent village, told Reuters news agency.

The encampment has been named “Bab el Shams,” which means “Gateway to the
Sun” in Arabic. The tents are providing temporary homes and a health clinic for
activists.

The site covers 4.6 square miles (12 square km) and backs onto East
Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to establish their capital.

“The project began roughly one month ago, by residents of nearby Palestinian
villages in danger of having their lands frozen to accommodate settler
expansions,” Palestinian activist Abdallah Abu Rahma told the Zionist daily
Haaretz."Palestinians are no longer content with policies of
occupation and settlement,” Rahmaa stated.

The building of Zionist settlements faced protest by many international
powers which believe the move will affect the Zionist -Palestinian peace deal.
Direct peace talks between the usurping entity and Palestine broke down in
2010.

The Zionist authority has frozen building in E1 area for many years, after
coming under pressure from then US President George W. Bush.

However, Netanyahu announced settlement plans after the Palestinians won
de-facto state recognition at the UN General Assembly last year. Those plans
involve building around 4,000 housing units in the area.

Around 500,000 Zionist settlers and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem.

River toSeaUprooted PalestinianThe views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

This observer has learned from time in this region that if one wants to learn what is happening on the ground politically and socially it is fine to speak with government officials, journalists, long tenured academicians, NGO’s, and people on the street. But I have learned that one of the best sources of objective information comes from university students. As explained to one official the other day, if ones sit with half a dozen graduate students one is sure to witness and benefit from a spirited, challenging exchange with varying points of view and few expressed without having to justify to the others one’s positions or interpretation of events.

It is for this reason that when this observer gets the chance he heads for a college in Damascus.

Today in Syria, from the streets and cafes to the Universities, a main subject of discussion and one that is nearly universally judged immoral and illegal are the US-led sanctions that in effect, are targeting the civilian population.

Partly as result of these brutal sanctions, today four million people in this country need of some type of humanitarian aid and as of today, there are 637,958 registered refugees inside Syria who are in need of emergency help, a 57,000 person increase from last year at this time.

The fighting here has obviously contributed to the continuing crisis faced by the civilian population. For example, the increasingly dangerous situation means that the World Food Program has evacuated its staff from Homs, Aleppo, Tartus Qamisly and other areas. The reason is that the past three months saw a sharp rise in the number of attacks on WFP aid trucks, which have also been hit by fuel shortages. Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency has just reported that the number of refugees fleeing the violence in Syria has leapt by nearly 100,000 in the past month. Both the Syrian Arab Republic Red Crescent Society and other NGO’s-foreign and domestic-are stretched beyond their limits and are struggling with approximately 10,000 more people in the areas they are able to assist every month being added to those in desperate need of help.

Virtually all the NGO’s here attest to the fact that if the US-led sanctions are lifted or even suspended until the spring, it would be a humanitarian gesture consistent with American claimed values. To continue to allow the dying and suffering under the weight of these sanctions suggests that we in America have learned nothing from the results of similar sanctions imposed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The deeply inhumane US-led sanctions prevent businesses from re opening, investments from being made, financial transactions, re-supply, and other necessary economic activities which means the basic necessities such as mazot fuel to heat homes, is very hard to come by as well as bread in many areas. These shortages are the direct and foreseeable results of the sanctions and rebel sabotage, as to a lesser extent of Lebanese, Turkish and other smugglers buying up the supplies and spiriting them across the borders to cash in on black market price gauging.

As a result of the sanctions, food prices have soared beyond the means of much of the Syrian civilian population. Too many of the young, old, infirm, and impoverished are dying monthly, according to Nizar, an English literature major, as a direct and foreseeable consequence of these sanctions.

The single rational foreigners visiting Damascus hear from Washington, and what the Obama administration is telling EU countries that are becoming concerned, is that the sanctions are vital to achieve regime change in Syria and when the government falls–to be replaced but who knows what or who– the US will then lift the sanctions and remove its boot from the throats of Syria’s students and civilian population.

Nizar takes another view.

“If terrorism is the killing of innocent civilians for political goals, then your government, the world’s claimed expert on terrorism is very guilty of massive terrorism and doesn’t need to lecture anyone on this subject because this is exactly what they are doing with their sanctions in my country.”

The fervent wishes of the US-Israel and certain other governments to the contrary, regime change is not likely to happen anytime soon in Syria according to most of the students this observer meet with, and it’s the next four months that are critical they insist-starting today.

Syrian students follow local and regional events closely and a common view is that from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Jordan and even some on capitol hill in Washington, are coming multiple signals that all are in consultation via their intelligence services with Syria’s government in order to reach a solution because they finally concede that, despite funding and aiding the rebel panoply with guns, money and training, these countries, including Egypt, that the regime will survive and that the al Nusra type salafists would not be satiated by the fall of Syria but would quickly turn on Doha, Riyad, Amman, the UAE and other countries in the region.

History instructs us those sanctions do not cause regime change and those affected are not the ones wielding power. It’s the wretched, the poor, the huddled refuge seeking to survive, to paraphrase Lazarus’ inscription on our Statute of Liberty who we are being ground into early graves by American government imposed sanctions.

The political goals of the sanctions imposed on Syrian civilian are one thing. The reality, quite another. US sanctions, some still in place against Cuba, after more than 53 years were a failure, as were US sanctions in China, Vietnam Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and now Syria, to name a few.

“They are all about unbridled vengeance, not rational consequences as offered in press releases from US government agencies” explained Samer, a business major from Aleppo.

Once more, much of the world including this region, as well as history will condemn the United States for these brutal economic crimes against a defenseless civilian population.

Equally, among American citizens and others I have met recently in Lebanon, Egypt and Libya, who know what is happening on the ground in Syria. The overwhelming percentage does not accept and will never accept targeting innocent civilians, whether by drones or sanctions. They express feelings of shame, not just for the past 11 years of unnecessary, criminal wars of choice in this region but for the current and continuing sanctions crime against the Syrian people.

The hatred that our government has brought to itself over more than 15 years of targeting civilians is intensifying daily because those suffering and dying here in Syria due to starvation and the effects of the now freezing temperatures in Syria, do not blame their government nearly as much as our American policy makers apparently hoped for. Rather, they blame, quite correctly, our government.

As one observer noted this week,

“The tents are drenched. Kids are crying. Puddles of water are all over…I am walking; my shoes are covered with rainwater. I can’t remember being so cold. I don’t even want to think about more than half of those living in my area. Something has to be done.”

We American are demonstrating yet again to the world that we have the power to destroy civilian populations. But we are better than that as a people. And in the words of Oregon’s late Senator Wayne Morse, “each one of us has a personal obligation to change, by all legal means necessary, our governments criminal acts.”

Sitting at our table in the student union refectory at Damascus University on 1/9/12, Rana, a passionate and, on that occasion indignant, history student majoring in American history and culture may have reflected accurately the views of many on Syrian campuses these days.

Rana wished out loud to us that she could tell Barack Obama face to face:

“Mr. President, in 1987 on the 750th anniversary of Berlin, your predecessor Ronald Reagan, spoke about the importance of human dignity and challenged Russian leader Gorbachev, to “tear down this wall.” In 2013, we students and our families from Damascus, the city of Jasmine, which was inhabited as early as 8,000 BC, and whose livelihood, opportunities and hope you are destroying today for no sane reason, urge you to‘tear down these sanctions’, come to Syria, visit our campus, and engage in dialogue with us.”

The Syrians are a great people. Rana, and her student colleagues, are a credit to Syria and to all humanity.

Ibrahim Al-Amin, the editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar, visitedJacques (not his real name), a christian Warmonger, in his secluded apartment in the Dora area of Beirut, Ibrahim Al-Amin, Ibrahim asked Jacques for help in getting fake "documents for members of a Palestinian family who fled from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus... wanting to return to Palestine, and that this had now become possible via Egypt. After 60 years of displacement between Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, the family wants to live in historic Palestine, even as refugees."

"Jacques did not dwell on the case for long. He said he’d do what he could. But then he surprised us by saying he would refuse to receive any payment if the family actually made it to the Gaza Strip. He added he’d be willing to provide a thousand documents for free if that would help a thousand Palestinians return to historic Palestine."

He (Jacques) knows they would not be returning to their original villages in the 1948 areas, but explained jokingly:

“This is the best way to tell them I don’t welcome them in Lebanon. So I don’t need to fight them or hate them, nor am I prepared to be accused of racism if I call for them to be dealt with outside Lebanon. This way I’ll be rid of their burden, and they’ll return to their country... isn’t the right of return the main demand of every Palestinian refugee in the world?

The operation is underway, and if all goes as expected, the plan should come to fruition within a couple of months."

So far nothing wrong in helping the family in returning to Gaza, But our commrade after storming his brain and consulting his commrades decided to raise funds and expand the operation

While arranging this operation While arranging this operation – whose real value matches that of a thousand military operations against Israel – friends were quick to suggest an idea: the establishment of a fund to collect donations that would be used to finance similar ones. That is why this account is being published, presumably without jeopardizing it.

But there is a question that worries me: How many Palestinian refugees would agree to embark on such an adventure in light of the sizeable risks?

I ask because I was surprised, indeed maddened, at the way Hamas activists based in Lebanon and Egypt went into Gaza to congratulate the inhabitants on their victory a few weeks ago, and yet proceeded to come back out. Why?

They say they have tasks to attend to related to the struggle. But in fact they have nothing to do except continue to fan the flames of the inferno in Syria in the name of supporting the revolution there or demand that Gebran Bassil be put on trial!

Ussama Hamdan of Hamas with Bahiya Al-Hariri

What minds and what hearts do such people possess? ﻿﻿﻿﻿I do not care much about Jaques, or didorwill do, because, I knowthat theright of returnfor mostLebanese(except perhaps some sunnis who consider the Palestinian as thier sunni army and welcome their resettlement for sectarian reasons) the right of return is nothing more than aslogan to hide their rejection ofthe Palestinian presencein Lebanon.Commrade Ibrahimendedhisarticleonemigration, saying:

"How many Palestinian refugees would agree to embark on such an adventure in light of the sizeable risks? "

I hope his question does not reflect a hidden desire to get rid of Palestinians.

Actually I share with Ibrahim his astonishmentandmadnessofthe Hamas leadershipand activists,

But I am and more astonished and outraged with his promotion of Jacques'sracism, andhis claim that thereturn of one Palestinian, unaffiliated with any Palestinian political parties, "real value matches that of a thousand military operations against Israel "and his call for "the establishment of a fund to collect donations that would be used to finance similar ones. That is why this account is being published, presumably without jeopardizing it."Moreover, the callfor counter immigrationobjectivelyadverseintersectwiththeZionistcallto encourage thePalestiniansintheWestBankto leavevoluntarilyforhalfamilliondollars, The goal of both calls is cleansing, ethnic in the West Bank, andsectarianin Lebanon.
Related

On reading Commerade's Ibrahims call I rememebered late Colonel Qadhafi.

In 1994, after the signing of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel, Qadhafi sought to show its objection to the agreements by expelling the Palestinians residing in Libya. He Justified his deed to Ahmad Al-Hauni, editor in chief of Al Arab (an Arabic newspaper published in London) as follows:

“Arafat and the United States, Israel and others declare that the Palestinian cause has been resolved finally and exclusively. This is not true, as there are millions of Palestinian refugees who are still out of their homeland. And as I care about the Palestinian cause, and in order to achieve the best interest of Palestinians, I will expel the thirty thousand Palestinians who currently live in my land, and try to secure their return to Gaza and Jericho. If Israel would not let them in, while Egypt does not allow them to pass through its territories, then I shall set a great camp for them on the Egyptian-Libyan borders” Qadhafi also added that “all of what I will be doing is for their best interest. No matter how they suffer, and even if they remain in the camp for years to come, this would still be for their national interest. And the whole world would come to the conclusion that the settlement is a big lie, and that Palestinians are still refugees. I hereby call on all Arab states hosting Palestinian refugees to act likewise...”.

Badil Staff interviewed Professor Bassem Sirhan, one of the Palestinians living in Libya at the time. The full interview is here

Libya is not a host country for Palestinians (i.e. Palestinians are not refugees there), as is the case with Lebanon, Syria and Jordan; it is rather one which imports skilled labor in the technical, scientific and professional fields; therefore, the residency of any Palestinian in Libya is based on a personal or individual contract with the state and its institutions, or with Libyan companies or foreign companies operating in Libya. Libya calls itself “The Land of Arabs” and its leader has been referred to by the late President Jamal Abdul-Nasser, as “The Trustee of Arab Nationalism”; it does not require any Arab to hold an entry visa or a residency permit, regardless of the position he will be assuming or the purpose of his stay. As for residency permits, they aim to allow their holders to open bank accounts in order for them to be able to repatriate half of their income in hard currency to their country of origin.

A number of expelled Palestinians left Libya by sea. Syria sent a ship to carry more than 600 expelled Palestinians carrying Syrian documents, after they got stranded on board a ship opposite the coast of Cyprus, which denied them the right to enter its territory and did not allow their ship to dock in its ports. Al-Hayat Daily newspaper reported that 608 Palestinians returned to Syria, while 13 of them carrying Jordanian documents returned to Jordan. Thirty Palestinians from the ship became trapped after being denied entry to Cyprus and were offered to be allowed to go back to Libya by Libyan authorities, which sent a ship for that purpose; however, they refused to board the ship, and preferred to stay where they were. Lebanon on its part turned back several hundred Palestinians who arrived from Libya on two ships in late August 1995. Their entry was made subject to obtaining an entry visa, even for those holding Lebanese travel documents.

How did the crisis eventually end?

In a surprise move in January 1997, the Libyan authorities offered to take back Palestinians refugees, and further dispatched a Palestinian delegation to the tent camp to convince the refugees to return.

Twelve years later, our friend, Dr. Franklin Lamb while covering the Brutal War on Libya wrote:

Some
of the thousands of Palestinians who came here from Lebanon to escape the civil
war, the post Sabra-Shatila Massacre reign of terror with which they were
targeted from the US and Israel supported Amin Gemayel government, and it’s the
Deuxieme Bureau (Lebanese Army Intelligence Force), asked the Beirut new
Lebanese-Palestinian Coordination Commission to urgently intervene with the
Lebanese government to let them depart Libya aboard ships and return to Lebanon.
They received no assistance or even a
reply.

Not even a reply to this request has been received five month later. This silence comes as no surprise given Lebanon’s deeply ingrained hostility toward its remaining 270.000 Palestinians, roughly half of whom remain trapped in 12 squalid camps,and not one of whom is granted even the basic internationally mandated right to work or to own a home.

Entry Denied to EgyptApproximately 3000 Palestinians have tried to cross into Egypt since Monday 7 March, 2011, but the Egyptian military had received instructions to not let Palestinians refugees in. Many Palestinians who had travelled to the border returned home, to the Libyan cities of Benghazi and Tobruk and adjacent areas. On Tuesday March 8, 2011, 15 Palestinians were still in Salloum demanding to cross, while hundreds of other Palestinians refusing to go back to their homes, had chosen to wait in the homes of Libyan host families in a village near the crossing. It has been reported that Palestinians without national identity cards or valid residency in Egypt were not allowed to cross, whereas even Asian laborers without papers managed to get into the country. ...

However, this observer has been repeatedly assured by Libyan officials in Tripoli that Palestinians in Libya are welcomed, will retain all their civil rights (please refer to Part II) and will in no way be discriminated against or pressured due to some Palestinians presumably favoring the NTC. (on this subject and the current legal and social status of Palestinian refugees in Libya please refer to Part II)

There have been some fears expressed by Hamas and others that the Qaddafi regime may take revenge on Libya’s Palestinian community because of rumors than some Palestinians are involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in Benghazi and even with some of the Salafist groups comprising part of the National Transition Council. In addition, anti-Qaddafi protests and graffiti and burning of Qaddafi poster in Gaza fueled these fears by Hamas and the refugee community here.

From a secluded apartment in the Dora area of Beirut, Jacques (not
his real name) offers you his unforgettable services. Fake passports, ID cards,
and official documents for Arab and African countries, as well as Latin America
and some Eastern European countries. The cost: between $1,000 and 5,000 per
document.

He is also willing to try to obtain papers from North Europe or the US for a
$10,000 down payment, but with no guarantees and no money back. Frankly, he
tells you, his success rate with “advanced” countries is around 40 percent, and
that it depends on nothing other than luck.
Jacques recently doctored passports for seven members of a Syrian family that
fled from fighting in the district of Homs. He apparently managed to get them
papers for a Latin American country. The group secured permits to travel to a
country in the region on Syrian IDs, and from there, they made their way to that
faraway land, where they hope to meet up with relatives.

I asked Jacques for help in getting documents for members of a Palestinian
family who fled from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. He asked the purpose:
to emigrate overseas, move freely between between Lebanon and Syria, or travel
to another Arab state?

I said they wanted to return to Palestine, and that this had now become
possible via Egypt. After 60 years of displacement between Jordan, Lebanon, and
Syria, the family wants to live in historic Palestine, even as refugees. They
have an opportunity to rent a small apartment in the Gaza Strip, and the
husband, wife, and one of the sons have flexible professions so they can look
after themselves anywhere. All they need are documents to travel to Egypt where
they’ll then enter the Strip, even as tourists, as many others have done.

After they arrive in their new home, they intend to tear up the documents and
ask the authorities in the Strip to issue new papers. They can prove that they
hail from a Palestinian village in the district of Akka, and that they still
have relatives there, as well as cousins based in a village near Nablus in the
West Bank. They are also unaffiliated with any Palestinian political parties.
The grandfather had been a supporter of the Fatah movement, but the son and the
grandsons seemed to shun activism for reasons that are unclear.

Jacques did not dwell on the case for long. He said he’d do what he could. But
then he surprised us by saying he would refuse to receive any payment if the
family actually made it to the Gaza Strip. He added he’d be willing to provide a
thousand documents for free if that would help a thousand Palestinians return to
historic Palestine.
He knows they would not be returning to their original villages in the 1948
areas, but explained jokingly: “This is the best way to tell them I don’t
welcome them in Lebanon. So I don’t need to fight them or hate them, nor am I
prepared to be accused of racism if I call for them to be dealt with outside
Lebanon. This way I’ll be rid of their burden, and they’ll return to their
country... isn’t the right of return the main demand of every Palestinian
refugee in the world?”
The operation is underway, and if all goes as expected, the plan should come
to fruition within a couple of months. There are three potential obstacles:
First, that a decision is made by Israel to block the return of Palestinians
even to the Gaza Strip, and it takes prevention steps on the political,
logistical, and even security fronts.
Second, that the Egyptian authorities bar this family from entering the
country, which is unlikely on logical or legal grounds, but possible from a
security standpoint.
Third, that Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip prevent the family from
entering and settling there. That, too, is presumably far-fetched, for moral,
religious, and humanitarian reasons.
While arranging this operation – whose real value matches that of a thousand
military operations against Israel – friends were quick to suggest an idea: the
establishment of a fund to collect donations that would be used to finance
similar ones. That is why this account is being published, presumably without
jeopardizing it.
But there is a question that worries me: How many Palestinian refugees would
agree to embark on such an adventure in light of the sizeable risks?

I ask because I was surprised, indeed maddened, at the way Hamas activists
based in Lebanon and Egypt went into Gaza to congratulate the inhabitants on
their victory a few weeks ago, and yet proceeded to come back out. Why? They say
they have tasks to attend to related to the struggle. But in fact they have
nothing to do except continue to fan the flames of the inferno in Syria in the
name of supporting the revolution there or demand that Gebran Bassil be put on
trial!

What minds and what hearts do such people possess?Ibrahim al-Amin is editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar.

byAriadna
TheokopoulosFriday, January 11th, 2013 From Voice
of RussiaProvocation against Russia Being Prepared in Syriaby Alexei Lyakhov, Konstantin GaribovIn separate interviews with the Voice of Russia broadcast on
Thursday, a host of experts mentioned a new round of information warfare against
Bashar Assad and a possible new provocation against Russia.They commented on
information about Western and Middle Eastern special services recruiting a group
of those who have Slavic features to play a role of Russian “mercenaries”
allegedly captured by Syrian opposition fighters.Russian media quoted a well-informed anonymous source as saying that “actors”
are being selected in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They all must handle guns and
be in the know about anti-aircraft systems. According to a script, they
should recognize their being recruited by Russian special services with the aim
of supporting the army of Bashar Assad. Also, they ought to say that they have
allegedly been delivered to Syria by warships.According to the source, all this will be filmed in Turkey or Jordan, where
fake demolished Syrian towns have already been built in the form of large-scale
theatrical scenery.

Sergei Demidenko of the Institute of Strategic Assessments and Analysis in
Moscow singles out similar ghost towns that were built in Qatar and Saudi Arabia
to discredit the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

“According to Goebbels, if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it,
people will eventually come to believe it, Demidenko says. As for the
above-mentioned provocation, it aims to provoke an international uproar by
creating an image of the wicked Syrian regime only supported by Russia and Iran.
Those staging the provocation want to show that but for this support, the Assad
regime could have long been ousted.”

The goal of video clips about Russian “mercenaries” in Syria is to save face
of those who is backing the Syrian opposition’s fight against Bashar Assad, says
Semyon Bagdasarov of the Moscow-based Center for Analytical Studies.

“It is open secret that the Free Syrian Army and other military groups
include citizens of Libya, Afghanistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Bagdasarov
says. As for the video clip, its aims to discredit Russia’s position and show
that Russians take part in hostilities in Syria. This is an information warfare
which is planned by the United States, Turkey and other countries.”

Confidential information about the planned provocation against Damascus and
Moscow coincided with the beginning of talks on Syria in Geneva, where UN-Arab
League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi meets a group of Russian and US diplomats.
Earlier, Moscow confirmed its readiness to cooperate with Western and Middle
Eastern partners to effectively contribute to resolving the Syrian crisis. In
this regard, the possible new provocation against Russia will hardly help
implement this task.
----

Chinesenewsagency(ZTE) published an imagetoDohaAirport andsurrounds confirming what the Syriantelevision aired bout buildinga full scalemodelofthe Syrian RepublicanPalaceinDohaAirport. The image shownis not available on usual Google.